Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/317

 The Poetry of the Kkvai Papuans. 295

47. ''Ah, Slide wario ro orouioito igiri riwaworo!' ("Along Subo one hawk he fly outside look out for fish.") A mythical hawk is said to live at a place called Subo.

48. " Subomuba ivario ro iiivio jujnarubo." (" Along point belong Subo one hawk he fly alongside you me.")

49. " Paravia btiscrc darinio bogiie bogo rarogo!' (" Paravia busere [mythical women living in the island of Parama] make noise along darimo [men's house]." )

50. " Gagoro gagoro Dibiri gagoro kudiina gagoro gagoro Dibiri gagoro." (" Good fine tree stop along Dibiri.")

The reason why so many of the serial songs begin with allusions to Adiri, the spirit-land, is probably connected with the fact that many of the rites refer directly or in- directly to the spirits of the dead. After Adiri the songs deal with place after place along the coast in an easterly direction, although it seems doubtful whether they purpose to describe an actual journey. I believe that they simply mention the various places in turn, together with some circumstance customarily connected with them, and, as Adiri lies at the extreme western border of the world, the songs seem to describe a wandering from west to east through the whole of the world known to the Kiwai people. As there is hardly any conspicuous place in the country which is not associated with some being or tradi- tion, the verses naturally combine the names of the different places with some reference to the local myths.

//. A Song describing the Building of Abere's House and her Journey.

A serial song connected with the viognru ceremony tells us how the mythical woman Abere and her people built a darimo, men's house, in Dudi, the country on the western side of the Fly river opposite Kiwai island. The house had only just been completed when they pulled it down. They tied all the timber together into a raft on which they sailed away from Dudi, but the fastenings of the raft broke,